Infectious Disease, Public Health & Health IT

Surgical wound classification

This past week we reviewed some hospital data and found ongoing confusion with regards to classifying surgical wounds. I put together a quick cheat sheet to help with wound classification.

Under classifying the wound will produce a lower severity of illness making the provider and the institution appear worse for the same outcomes

Remember as more data is being collected for hospital report cards it is imperative to have accurate wound classification. The knee jerk reaction of many providers is to under classify the surgical wound. Outcomes are being compared to these data points. Under classifying the wound will produce a lower severity of illness making the provider and the institution appear worse for the same outcomes.

So lets all get the credit we deserve by making sure we classify wounds correctly.